Systematic Revision

"More Active Foreign Policy"

In an interview, published a few days ago in German media, the Vice Chair of the Left parliamentary group, Dietmar Bartsch, made a plea for a "more active foreign policy." Bartsch said that he too would like to see Germany assume "more responsibility" at the global level. This is in line with the programmatic statements being made by Germany's President, Joachim Gauck, Defense Minister, Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) and Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD). All three sought to justify an intensification of Germany's military engagements at the Munich Security Conference, Germany's most important military policy conference. Even though Bartsch speaks out against "more German soldiers abroad," he underlines that "no government" of Germany would be able to simply "interrupt" the "missions it has agreed to carry out under a UN mandate." "The decisive moment would then come, when the Bundestag will have to take a decision on the prolongation of these missions. This would always involve a case-by-case examination." This Left Party functionary couples this with an unambiguous call for closing ranks with the social democrats: "In 2017, differences over foreign policy will not stand in the way of a coalition of SPD and the Left Party."[1]

"Reaching Agreement on Defense Policy"

Gregor Gysi, the Chair of the Left Party's parliamentary group, made a similar statement early last month. The politician made the false allegation in a radio interview that the SPD has "learned" that the wars, they continue to justify and support in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan "have not solved the problems confronting humanity, but rather made them worse." Gysi also appears to be convinced of the possibility of forming a coalition government with the German Social Democrats: "We can reach an understanding in questions of foreign policy, even in defense policy."[2]

Picking up the Threads of Conversation

Gysi's statements had been preceded by a meeting that, at first had been kept secret, between Left Party co-Chairs Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger and the head of the SPD, Sigmar Gabriel, on June 2 of this year. The purpose of that clandestine meeting was to end the "breakdown in communication" and pick up the long-term "threads of the conversation," according to the news provided by the parties nearly a month later.[3] They also emphasized the need to remain absolutely silent about the contents of these talks. Nonetheless, Gabriel's Vice Chair, Ralf Stegner, implied that the social democrats are mainly disturbed by the Left Party's opposition to war: "Much of the Left Party's foreign policy is of another world."[4]

Imperial Liberalism

Public discussions between representatives of the Left Party, the SPD and the Greens are regularly held on the premises of the Berlin-based daily, "taz." Last month, at this forum, the Left Party's spokesperson on the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, Stefan Liebich, made wide-ranging concessions to official German foreign and military policy. As the politician explained, the Left Party does "not rule out foreign military missions for the Bundeswehr," for example for the stabilization of a "cease fire line," for "civil protection in disaster zones," or to thwart "genocide."[5] Liebich co-authored a paper outlining "Elements of a Foreign Policy Strategy for Germany." The paper was jointly published by the government-affiliated German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) and the German Marshall Fund of the USA (GMF). The paper proposes that the Federal Republic of Germany "make use of the entire panoply of foreign policy instruments - from diplomacy via development and cultural policy all the way to the use of military force," to globally impose its political and economic interests. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[6]) Similar policy statements can be found in the book "Left Foreign Policy" edited by Liebich. In this anthology, one author explicitly acknowledges her attachment to the strategy of "imperial liberalism," which signifies that "liberal political objectives be pursued through the use of military force or the establishment of hegemonic structures."[7]

EU Criticism Deleted

The Left Party's systematic revision of its anti-militarist political positions has already begun to have practical consequences. In April, when the Bundestag was called to decide, whether the Bundeswehr should participate with a frigate in the removal of Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons in the Mediterranean, for the first time in its history, the Left Party's parliamentary group did not unanimously vote in opposition to a German military operation. 19 of the Left Party parliamentarians abstained, while five voted in favor of the mission. Almost at the same time, the party leadership pushed through the deletion of an essential passage from the Left Party's electoral program for the European Parliamentary elections: The formulation characterizing the EU as a "neoliberal, militarist and, to a large extent, undemocratic power" was completely deleted from the text.[8]

Admission Fee to a Government Coalition

In the meantime, antimilitarists in the Left Party can expect to be publicly disavowed, if the party leadership finds their positions inconvenient. This most recently happened to the regional parliamentarian in Brandenburg, Norbert Müller, who referred to the German President, Joachim Gauck as a "disgusting warmonger."[9] Similarly, the party leadership recently also publically rebuked the Bundestag parliamentarian, Sevim Dagdelen. When the Green parliamentary group whip, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, slandered those denouncing the participation of neo-fascist organizations in the Ukrainian government as "cheap populism," Dagdelen responded with a quote from Berthold Brecht: "A man who does not know the truth is just an idiot, but a man who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a crook!"[10] Evidently the leadership of the Left Party is about to sacrifice anti-militarism on the altar of a political alignment with the official German foreign and military policy - the admission fee to a future government coalition.

[1] "Dieses Pferd ist tot". www.tagesspiegel.de 27.06.2014.
[2] "Wir brauchen Deeskalation". www.deutschlandfunk.de 08.06.2014.
[3] Unter sechs Augen. Junge Welt 25.06.2014.
[4] Rot-rotes Treffen: Gabriels linke Nummer. www.spiegel.de 24.06.2014.
[5] Zitiert nach: Rot-rot-grüne Kriegspolitik. www.scharf-links.de 26.06.2014.
[6] See The Re-Evaluation of German Foreign Policy.
[7] Gabriele Kickut: Linke zwischen Antiamerikanismus und Bündnisfrage. In: Stefan Liebich/Gerry Woop (Hg.): Linke Außenpolitik. Reformperspektiven. Potsdam 2013. Siehe hierzu auch: Peer Heinelt: Linke Krieger. In: Konkret 1/2014.
[8] Der vollständige Satz lautet: "Spätestens seit dem Vertrag von Maastricht wurde die EU zu einer neoliberalen, militaristischen und weithin undemokratischen Macht, die nach 2008 eine der größten Krisen der letzten 100 Jahre mit verursachte." Er findet sich im Leitantrag des Parteivorstandes der Partei "Die Linke" zur Europawahl, ist aber im offiziellen Europawahlprogramm der Linkspartei nicht mehr enthalten.
[9] Oppermann prangert "unglaubliche Entgleisungen" an. www.sueddeutsche.de 25.06.2014.
[10] Mit Brecht gegen Faschisten-Versteher. Junge Welt 05.06.2014.